Gundam SEED: Orb's Guardian Lions
by BlackAkatsuki23
Summary: What if in a twist of fate, Cagalli was unable to reach the safety of a Lifepod. What if there was a new Mobile Armor, and our young Lioness found it? What if Kira had secrets about his past and why he was there? Full summary inside. Pairing:KiraxCagalli(involves incest, keep any and all flames to yourself)
1. Chapter 1 The Rising Lions

**Hey everyone, thanks for checking out my first real story and I hope you will enjoy it. You also must forgive the way it typed since my desktop computer's keyboard has been acting up lately. Also,if you find this story similar to ****Gundam SEED: Twin's Fate Entwined**** by Real Personal Trooper Type-0, I was inspired by that fanfic to write this and while it does share some similarities, this is my own story so it will go the way I want it go, and I have already talk to R-0 and assured him I will not be copying something he worked hard to put together.**

**Now then for some of you, listen and heed this warning: THIS STORY WILL CONTAIN INCEST! SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE, THEN DON'T READ IT. I WILL ALSO IGNORE ANY FLAMES MADE ABOUT MY STORY, SO IT'S YOUR CHOICE.**

**Now for the Disclaimer: I in no way, shape or form, own Gundam SEED or any of its references. If I did, I would made a number of changes to the story as a whole.**

Chapter 1: Lions Rising

The once quiet colony of Heliopolis, has now become a raging, one-sided battle between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, as the few remaining citizen of Heliopolis scrambled to escape to the safety of the remaining lifepods. While the Alliance forces were being decimated by ZAFT's mass produced Mobile Suit: the ZGMF-1017 GINN. The Alliances missile trucks and TS-MA2 Moebius' were fighting a one-sided fight, as the GINNs easily cut through the colonies defenses. The superiority of the GINN easily evident as they easily decimated all Alliance forces inside the colony. While those on the outside found themselves on the defensive against a single TS-MA2mod.00 Moebius Zero piloted by the Alliance's only surviving Moebius Zero Ace, Mu La Flaga. Who despite the loss of both of his wingmen and Heliopolis's same fleet, was currently holding his own against the remaining three GINNS, having forced two other GINNs to retreat with heavily damaging to both suits.

But its was unfortunate, for all their effort the Earth Forces were unable to stop the two teams of ZAFT, which was comprised of twelve Generic ZAFT Green Coats and five Elite ZAFT Red Coats, from invading the colony and stealing three of the five prototype mobile suits built under "G-Project". The three units that were stolen were:

The GAT-X102 Duel, which was stolen by Red Coat, Yzak Joule, the GAT-X103 Buster, taken another Red Coat, Dearka Elsman, and the GAT-X207 Blitz which was captured by Nicol Amarfi, also a ZAFT Red Coat.

The last of the G-Weapons, the GAT-X303 Aegis, as well as, the GAT-X105 Strike, was the site of a battle, as the remaining Alliance Forces fought to defend the them from the twelve Green Coats and the two remaining Red Coats, Athrun Zala and Rusty Mackenzie. Which were quickly cutting their way through the defenders ranks, though their numbers were starting to dwindle, as well.

While this was happening, two young teenagers, a boy and a girl, were quickly making their way away from the fighting. With the boy, who introduced himself as Kira Yamato, was currently having to drag the girl, whom refused to give him her name, by the hand, in search of the evacuation point in the area. They managed to reach the one such area where there were several Lifepod elevators located, two of which showed that they were full and locked down, while the third was still active.

"See? Most of the people here have already evacuated." Kira told the girl, trying his best to reassure her as he fiddles with the last elevators' controls. But the girl appears to be too lost in her thoughts to even register what he is saying, her face showing a mixture of distress and seriousness in it. While the Kira observes the girl, the Elevator's intercom activates.

"Hello, is there someone out there?" Came the sound of a man's voice through the panel.

Reacting instantly, Kira presses a button on the intercom to reply. "Yes," he answers. "Can you let me and my friend in? The other two shelters are full here. Please you need to let us in!"

"There's two of you?"

"Yes, Sir. That's correct."

"Sorry, but we can't take two more people in here." The man explains, "Have you try any of the other thirty-seven shelters in the left block. Can't you make it there?"

Kira glances back at the way they came, thinking back to the destruction that surrounds them and how difficult it would be to get across the hanger without getting caught in the heated fighting that's happening just below them.

"Can you at least take my friend here." Kira pleaded with him. "She's a girl."

"Alright, we'll…" was all that the man said before someone else cried, "Look out!" which was followed by a "BOOM," which prompted Kira to grab the nameless, and still lost in thought, girl and fling both of them away from the elevator doors, just before an internal explosion ripped them open spewing flames for a few seconds before the elevator sealed itself shut, effectively lowering their few chances of survival.

**A Few Moments Before… (on the outside of Heliopolis)**

"Watch out, Garth!" screamed one of the two remaining GINN pilots to the his friend, as tried to desperately to move his badly damaged GINN. "He's above you!"

But it was too late, Garth's GINN shook as a number of hits as Mu unleashed his Moebius Zero GunBarrels and linear rifle on it, one shot managed to score a lucky hit to the GINNs flight pack, causing it to explode, sending it crashing straight into one of the launch tubes for the Lifepods in the outer wall of the colony before it exploded, and unfortunately taking the Lifepod with it.

'_Oh Shit, I hope no one was in there._' Mu thought before he dodged an attack from the GINNs partner as it charged at him heedless of its current state and moved to engage the reckless pilot.

**Present Time…**

Climbing quickly to his feet, still holding the nameless girl in his arms, Kira turns to the now destroyed elevator, before he turns and helps the dazed girl to her feet.

"You alright there?" concern evident in his voice, as the girl seemed to snap out of it, before anger ignited in her orange eyes.

"You IMBECILE!" She screams. "Is this your attempt at getting me kill! Why did I even let you drag me here in the…"

'SLAP'

"Calm yourself down, I was only trying to get you to safety." Kira all but yelled at the girl. "I mean, it's not like I could have left you there on your own, and I would rather see you safely out of here. Okay!"

Letting his anger go at the girls' comment, he asked, "Now, are we going to stand here and argue about something as pointless of me trying to kill you or are we going to do work together to find an open Lifepod that we can take shelter in?" Then stepped to the side as he waited for her reply.

A nod of her head was all he got in response, but time was something they have much of at the moment. "Then let's go back the way we came and then head for the Left block and see if we take shelter there." he explained.

As they moved down the hallway, Kira heard the girl mumbled something under her breath. "Huh, could you speak up, please. I didn't catch that." he asked.

"Cagalli." she repeated.

"Huh?" Asks the confused boy as he stops walking and turns to look at her.

"My name is Cagalli." she clarified, as she a tick mark appeared on her jaw line, making her frustration at repeating herself clear.

Kira couldn't help but find the girl, Cagalli, expression to be somewhat funny, but respectful manages to stop himself from snickering. "Oh, okay. Nice to meet you, Cagalli. I'm Kira. Kira Yamato."

"Then I must thank you, Kira, for saving me."

"Your welcome." A smile spread out across Kira's face as looked at Cagalli, a flicker of amusement in his eyes. "and it's just Cagalli, no last name?" he asks.

"None that you need to know." she huffs, while sticking her nose up in the air, in a similar manner to that of a child.

"Anyways," he said. "I think there should be some Lifepods on the other side of…" was all he got before an explosion shook the entire facility. Causing the two teens to turn their attention to the firefight going on below them, and the sight of a ZAFT Green aiming his weapon down at the remaining Alliance soldiers and Morgenroete technicians from the catwalk directly in front of them.

"No!" Kira yelled, as reached down to his ankle and pulled out several throwing knives from the sheaths strapped to his shin, much to Cagalli's shock, before hurling two of them at the Green Coat. "I won't let you interfere with my mission."

By the time the Greenie heard Kira's yell, the two knives had lodged themselves in his body, one is throat the other in his side. Leaving the Greenie to gurgle out some incomprehensible gibberish, before he died from choking on his own blood.

'_What was that?' _was Cagalli's only thought before Kira pulled to the ground as bullets went flying through the space where head had just been, before Kira pulled her to her feet and pulled her into a dash for the doors that lead to the Left Block. All without noticing that he had caught the attention of certain female officer down below, at least that was until her voice stopped them and caused them to look over the railing at her.

"It's those kids from before...Why haven't they evacuated already?" The woman thought out loud, before a grunt of pain, followed by a thud drew to her attention to a fellow Alliance soldier, as he collapsed to ground dead. Dropping her empty rifle, Ramius leaped forward, drawing her sidearm and shooting the ZAFT Green, just as she hit the ground. Jumping back up, she calls after them, "What are you doing? Come here."

"Don't mind us, we're are just heading to the shelter in the Left Block," Kira yelled down to her. "Just ignore us."

"Left Block? The only thing there is a door." she yelled back at them, remembering the layout of the facility.

"Damn it, he was lied to us." Kira mumbled under his breath, before the door they had been going for exploded, knocking them both to the ground. Pushing themselves to their feet, they turned to head down from the catwalks, to the hanger below.

"Over here!" Ramius called to them as she moved towards the chest of one of the Mobile Suits, known as the Strike. Kira saw where she was moving and deciding not to waste anymore time, proceeded to pick up and carry Cagalli bride-style, much to the girls' surprise. But before she could voice her protest, Kira leaped over the railing and down to the ground level. Cagalli clung to him and yelling all the way down as the ground rushed up to meet them, only instead of ending up a splattered mess on the ground or with Kira injuring himself in someway, they land quietly on one of the Mobile Suits' shoulders in front of Ramius. Earning a surprised look from Ramius and a relieved, yet angry look Cagalli. "You can yell at me later, but right now we need to get out of here." Kira told the blond haired girl, which seemed to pacify her for the moment.

While that was going on, the last two remaining ZAFT soldiers, Athrun Zala and Rusty Mackenzie, were currently pinned by an Alliance soldier named Hamana, while they were to get close enough to the two remaining prototypes, so they could steal them. When Rusty accidentally exposed himself to much of himself from his cover, Hamana took the opening and fired,scoring a direct hit to Rusty's head, shattering his helmets' visor and killing him instantly.

"Rusty!" yelled Athrun as he watch his friend die. Enraged, he leaps from behind his cover and charges at the killer of his friend firing his submachine gun. Hamana shakes as a number of hit him, before he crashes to the ground dead several seconds later, with Athrun standing over his corpse.

"Hamana!" Ramius yells as she aims her handgun at the ZAFT Red. Who, unfortunately, is faster than her, and dodges her shots by moving to the right. The Red squeezes of a burst of rounds, one of which manages to nail Ramius in the shoulder, sending her to the ground.

Kira and Cagalli move towards her. with Cagalli first the first there, kneeling down to checking on the woman's wound, with Kira a few feet behind her, armed with two more knives. While that happens, Athrun, who now realizes that he is out of ammo, draws his knife and charges Cagalli and Ramius. Only to be stopped as another person appears in his path and kicks him away. Athrun regains his footing only to completely still when his eyes landed on his attacker, who had frozen in place as well.

"Kira?!"

"Athrun?!"

Just then, an explosion erupts and sets the everything around them aflame, but nothing seems to faze the two as they continue to stare at one another, ignoring everything around them. Both lowering their weapons in shock. That trance is soon broken when Ramius, who Cagalli helped to her feet, fires her gun at Athrun who jumps back to avoid being hit even though most of her shots missed him by a wide margin, who then moves to the other remaining machines and climbs inside.

Ramius see the last Red climb aboard the Aegis, pushes Cagalli into the Strikes open cockpit and grabs Kira's shoulder and drags him towards the open cockpit. "Get in." She orders him, "I'll pilot it."

Kira blinks at her, before saying, "I mean no disrespect ma'am, but it's better that you let me pilot it, since I have training in piloting Mobile Suits, especially when they are built using designs stolen from Terminal to build these G-Weapons."

A shocked Ramius, quickly, even she was somewhat reluctantly to, climbed in behind the Strikes' cockpit seat, with Cagalli already on the other side, as Kira took the controls and started to activate the Mobile Suit, running through like had done it a million time

. While next to them Athrun was doing the same.

Then both machines move to stand as flames and explosions dance around them, rising up to greet the two Mobile Suits as they rise from their berths. Both piloted by a teenagers, though one carried a girl and a woman with him, while the other rides alone.

And this is where our story truly begins, as the boy and the girl begin their journey together. Where they would face many challenges together in the coming conflict, and as they build their legacy together. The legacy of Orb's Noble Lions.

**Now I wish to thank you for reading my first chapter in my story, would like to hear your thought on how it was. Also below are some info on some the Mobile Armors and Mobile suits, I created for this story. So if you don't mind take a look at them and tell me what you think, though I only posted the ones that would either come-in in the next chapter or where not that big, and will appear later on. **

Model number: TS-MAR1

Code Name: Moebius Rhino

Unit type: Prototype Enhanced Moebius Mobile Armor(scaled down version)

Manufacturer: Morgenroete(using incomplete designs blueprints from Terminal's WIZARD group)

Operator(s): Earth Alliance, ORB, Terminal

Accommodations: pilot only, in standard cockpit

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

Armor materials: unknown

Powerplant: ultracompact energy battery, power output rating unknown

Propulsion: jets/thrusters

Equipment and design features: NICOS(Neural Interface and Connective Operating System); transformable frame(striker pack, atmospheric, and zero gravity configuration modes); sensors, range unknown; reflective armor; movable thruster mount; Striker Pack mode

Fixed armaments: 2x 40 mm CIWS chain gun

Optional fixed/interchangeable armament: 2x Beam/Ballistic DRAGOON gun pods, 1x L-MAC (linear mass acceleration cannon), 4x 'Hunter' tracker missile pods

Technical and Historical Notes:

With the success of the Moebius Zero the Earth Alliance wished to further the use of the Moebius Zero, even though there were few people who had the capabilities to use it. They had Morgenroete incorporate designs from a partial blueprint they had managed to steal from Terminal's WIZARD division, along with the two other partial blueprints.

The Moebius Rhino is similar and different to the Moebius Zero is a number of ways. It most notable feature is the transformable frame that allows it to change into three different forms, a form much like the Moebius Zero for use in zero gravity, a fighter plane mode for use in the atmosphere, and a striker pack mode. Another is the fact that the thrusters on the Rhino can be moved and change their position to better allow the pilot to fight and dodge attacks. It also incorporates a prototype DRAGOON system specifically designed for it, featuring both beam and projectile weaponry. Its armor is another improvement as well, it's armor is a scaled-down, non-powered variant of the Phase Shift Armor that allows for the Rhino to be hit by both beam and projectile weaponry and receive only a small amount of damage. The LAST feature is one that Kira added to the MA in order for Cagalli to be able to fully use it, NICOS System connects pilot directly to the Rhino and helps the pilot develop and enhance their Spatial Awareness abilities and greatly increase their control over the DRAGOON system. Even the weapons the Rhino is equipped with a carefully design to consume less power and enable the Rhino to operate for longer periods of time.

Appearance: Its integrated, think of the TS-MA4F Exus with the bottom having the 'Hunter' missile packs instead of the gun pods with wings (like with the Rosso Aegis's flight stabilizers when it is in its mobile armor mode in the atmosphere) that when in space MAM(mobile armor mode) connect to the sides of the cockpit, which looks like the one from the TS-MA4F Exus(and no its has no open canopy since the cockpit would be biggest weak point on the MA, so it a closed cockpit that uses a full Panoramic Cockpit, from gundam Z and ZZ, that allows for full view around the Rhino), and two DRAGOON pods on the top both of, which can also be used as additional thrusters, and the CIWS is a miniature version of what the Archangels use to intercept incoming missiles, but instead of one turret it has tow chain gun on a rotatable turret mount, it is positioned in the same spot as the beam cannon on the FX-550 Skygrasper. The L-MAC rifle is located on the underside of the MA, like the rifle of the Moebius Zero.

When it changes to atmospheric MAM, it changes it a variation of the FX-550 Skygrasper, where the wing slide back and open to the side with no thruster at the ends of the wings, then the center of the where the DRAGOON and 'Hunter' pods are located, just after the CIWS turret is, splits open, while the 'Hunter' pods on the bottom shift to the underside of the wings, and allows the cockpit to slide back and take up a position like that of a fighter plane(while in the atmosphere the Rhino can not use the DRAGOON pods separately from the body, so instead it uses them as thrusters to fly and make sharp jumps up, down, or to the sides, since they can move to different angles and rotate in a full circle) which allows the Rhino access to the landing gear and the L-MAC rifle shifts to either side of the underbelly just like how the Angi Impulse Cannon would be.

Sticker Pack forms - the Striker Pack mode involves two different forms based off of the space and atmospheric modes. In both modes the connector for the hard points is located just past the back of the cockpit. While the Rhino is in either of its Striker Pack forms, its pilot acts as a copilot and allows for the main pilot to be more aware of the things going on around them.

Form #1

The first one is just like how the Moebius Zero combines with the Strike, except the there are only two DRAGOON pods just behind the shoulders and the missile pods move the to the to the top of the shoulders, while the cockpit moves to a position underneath the body, and the CIWS turrent provide fire that cover to the back of the unit the Rhino is attached to, the L-MAC gun is used as a rifle for the unit.

Form #2

In atmospheric mode it changes to look like the IWASP striker pack with the wings out and the DRAGOON pods over the shoulders. The missile pods are situated on the underside of the wings, and the L-MAC gun is used as either a rifle or a sniper rifle, depending on the setting used. The cockpit shifts down and rotates around so that it armored bottom is facing outward and the piece of the Rhino that holds the cockpit is locked up against the gundam unit its attached to.

Model number: TS-ASMA-03

Codename: Aquila

Unit type: Underwater (Moebius Zero version) Mobile Armor

Manufacturer: TelTech Ind. Aquatic Division 2

Operator(s): Earth Alliance, Atlantic Federation

Accommodations: pilot only, in standard cockpit.

Dimensions: Unknown

Weight: Unknown

Armor materials: Unknown

Powerplant: ultracompact energy battery, output rating unknown

Propulsion: propellers, jets

Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown; radar, range unknown; Depth system; titanium-reinforced cockpit; anchor arm system; filtration system

Fixed armaments: 4x torpedo tubes; 1x LAR(Linear Aquatic Rifle); 2x rotate-able twin 30mm beam cannon; 2x anchor claws

Optional armaments: 2x 'Piranha' torpedo pack

Technical and Historical Notes:

The Aquila is the only Mobile Armor the Earth forces have and its performance has allowed them to hold their own against the GOOhNs uses by ZAFT. It is based off of the Moebius Zero is pretty much an aquatic version of it. It uses a combination of propellers and jets as it propulsion, thus allowing it to move more freely in the water. Due to the fact that it operates under water it cannot use wire-guided pods to assist it and DRAGOON system that can be used underwater has not been developed yet. The Aquila's weapons are pretty standard like guided torpedoes. It also has a few unique weapons as well. The 'Piranha' torpedo pack is one of these, it uses an two advance pieces of technology to detect the enemy. The first one focuses on the electrical signals that a mobile suit or vessels gives off as it moves through the water, and can not be confused by the electrical impulses given off by animals as it follows specific frequencies. The second focuses on the distortion that a happens when things move through the water, the 'Piranha' follows the these trails to its target, while using an electronical FOF detection to detect friendly vessels and/or units. The next weapon is the LAR(Linear Aquatic Rifle) that is equipped underneath the on the bottom of the Aquila, which fires linear shells that easily cuts through the water. It has to two twin 30mm beam cannons mounts on either side that rotate to allow them to target enemy units or incoming torpedoes or missiles. They do have a drawback as well: the warmer the water around it the weaker the beams become.

The last weapon it has it the claw arms. They allow for the Aquila to grab onto enemy units and use the claws to damage the enemy unit.

Appearance: Looks like the Moebius Zero without the gun pods and the wings where the gun pods attached on the top and bottom are fins, while the two fins on the side are used mount points for the 'Piranha' packs. The propeller sit inside a frame, this allows the Aquila to protect its main means of movement, while the jets that are mounted around it allow the Aquila to move around and turn underwater making it quick than when using a rudder to steer it. The arm claws are folded to the side of the cockpit, they look the arms of the GNMA-04B11 Trilobite from Gundam 00, and fold in the same way and position.

Colors: Blue

**Here are four new Striker Packs that I created and plan to use in my story, I would like you to look over them and tell me what you think about them, as well.**

X04A-1 Velocity: A pack system that specializes in high speed movement and combat. It carries for individual mini power cells, designed by Kira, that allow it to operate longer and without worrying about the enormous drain it put on a single energy battery. It mainly equipped with close combat weapons, which includes: 2x beam sabers, 4x combat 'Armor Schneider' combat knives, 1x 'Blazer' 18m anti-ship sword, and 4x Harkin grapnels(2 on forearms and two on hips. Optional equipment includes: 1x Type 2A beam rifle; 1x shield

X05B-3 Panzer: A pack designed specifically for long range attack and interception combat. Like the Velocity Pack, the Panzer has three additional mini energy cells in its equipment. Its main armament includes: 1x twin beam cannons(mounted over the shoulders), 2x combinable beam rifles(which when combined form either a sniper rifle or a 'Angi Impulse' cannon), 6x micro missile packs(each holding 120 micro missile each-12 per missile), 2x 'Armor Schneider' combat knives, and 2x beam sabers. Its optional armament includes: 2x shields with a beam cannon mounted underneath.

X06C-1 Guardian: A pack that focuses on protecting and fighting defensively. The pack brings extra armor and weight making slow in terms of speed. It is nearly impossible to damage with most weapons save for nuclear weapons. It also has additional mini energy batteries that enable it to operate at top form. It features little weapons other than a prototype Terminal version of the DRAGOON system and 2x beam sabers. Its main feature are the 4x rotatable shield wings that house 6x DRAGOON bits each on their underside. The top side are equipped with anti-beam and deflector field generators. Its optional armaments include1 beam rifle, 2x 'Armor Schneider' combat knives, and 2x missile packs.

X07D-2 Neo: a pack that features a balanced ratio in terms of weaponry and performance capabilities. Its main armament differs for every situation and mission. Its also has 6 mini battery cells that give it an incredible operating time and ability to stay active longer. Its base armament is 1x beam rifle, 1x anti-beam shield, 2x 'Armor Schneider' combat knives, 2x beam sabers, 2x micro missile pods, and 2x beam boomerangs. Optional armament: 2x beam cannons, 1x 17m anti-ship Blaze sword, and any other equipment from other packs.


	2. Chapter 2 The Lions First Steps

**Hello everybody this BlackAkatsuki23, and welcome to another chapter in ****Gundam SEED: Orb's Guardian Lions****, and I hope you will enjoy like you this chapter, as well. To anyone who was wondering why I changed my Pen name. I did it because recently I kind of found myself getting bored of my old Pen name since I have used for other accounts, though not for before, and I wanted to change it so it. Also, before anyone starts to ask why it's taking me so long to write these chapters, I will inform you that I have only started writing stories back a few months ago(though I was working on Gundam SEED: Conflicted Hearts for nearly a year and half before). It mainly started when I was in the third grade, my teachers were always giving me compliments for how good my writing skills were and they often told that I was way above the normal level of writing for my age group, since I was a really good writer when I was younger, but unfortunately I would be cursed a bad case of self doubt because my fellow students were jealous of my talent and decided to start bullying me verbally, add in the fact that I had a form of ADHD, called Aspergers Syndrome and I quickly gave up writing and forgot a lot of the things I learned. It wasn't until I found that I became interested in writing again, but I struggled with a lot of bad habits and low confidence in my ideas and storys(most of with were but aside). And by the time I started to get my skill back in shape I was halfway through high school, and due to my bad luck I ended up being selected to take a dual enrollment class for english 4 and english 101 my Junior Year and that left me with no english four class my Senior year so I did what I could on my own but I am the type of person who learns better in a Classroom with a teacher. So, to sum everything up, I am not a fast writer so do not expect updates frequently, and I have life that I need to do as well, I start college in the fall, and I have a job. I plan to work on my skills and while I'm not so sure about improving my writing speed, I will definitely work to increase the length each new chapter I do. Also, I wish to inform you all that I have entered into college like main authors on this site and will do my best to work around my schedule with writing the chapters.**

**As I said in the last intro: THIS STORY WILL CONTAIN INCEST. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE INCEST THEN THIS IS NOT A FANFIC THAT YOU SHOULD READ. I WILL ALSO IGNORE ANY AND ALL FLAMES MAD ABOUT THE SUBJECT, IF IT IS ABOUT THE STORY THEN FEEL FREE TO COMMENT, AS LONG AS IT'S CONSTRUCTIVE.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Gundam SEED franchise, or any of its references. I own own the rights to a few things, mainly the MSs and MAs I created for this story.**

* * *

Chapter 2: The Lions First Steps

**Elsewhere inside the hidden facility**

A single figure stood in the another hanger holding a gun at his side before he placed it back in the holster on his hip. Turning his gaze, the figure as he stared at the imposing sight of the large Mobile Suit in front of him. By his figure you could easily tell that was definitely male. The figure was huge by normal standards, standing about six feet in height and large in the size his muscled frame was anything to go by. The rest of his features couldn't be seen since he was dressed in a black flight suit generally worn by ZAFT Black Coat, the rank equivalent of a Captain or Commander, and marked him as not being just the run-of-the-mill soldier.

Reaching up, the figure undid the clasps that secure his helmet to his suit, before removing it. The face that was revealed who have confused anyone who had seen him from a distance and thought that he was middle age man, when in fact his face showed that he was no older than sixteen. On each ear he wore a single earring in the shape star. He shook his head to ruffle up his brown hair into a somewhat spiky form. A single bead of sweat trickled down the golden tan skin tone on his forehead, but the boy made no move to wipe at it and instead choose to climb up to the mobile suits cockpit. A few seconds was all it took for him to open the hatch and hop inside before closing it.

With the hatch closed, the boy started to activated the mobile suit as its once gray armor was replaced by a solid black that seemed to absorb all light into itself. "The ORB-X01 Yoru," said the boy as he read the machine schematics.

"This is going to be fun!" continued the boy, as he started to laugh madly. "You better watch out Kira Yamato, I will have my revenge. I, Masaru Ultor, will be the one to kill you, brother." The boy, Masaru, became quiet after that, focusing solely on rewriting the OS.

* * *

**Interior of Heliopolis**

The once peaceful colony of Heliopolis was now in total chaos, explosions erupted from both on the inside and the outside of the colony, even though most of the civilians had managed to reach the safety of the lifepods, there were still some who had not. A ZAFT Green Ace pilot named Matthew was mopping up any remaining Mobile Armors inside the colony, while another one named Miguel Aiman was destroying any means of ground resistance from missile trucks and Alliance Infantry.

"An level 8 evacuation order has been given to all of Heliopolis." A voice called over the colony's intercom system, "All residents are to head for the nearest shelter as quickly as possible."

Among the remaining civilians were several of Kira's friends, who had been separated from him when the hallway inside Morgenroete had collapsed in on itself, just after Cagalli had run off with Kira going after her. Tolle Koenig, Miriallia Haw, Sai Argyle, and Kuzzey Buzskirk were all desperately searching for a pace to take shelter from the chaos, while also doing their best to avoid being squashed under the GINNS' large feet as the they went about mopping up the last of Heliopolis's internal defenses.

"Watch out!" Yelled a random civilian as he avoided running headlong into another person, while others ran around in confusion.

"Where are the entrances to the shelters?"

"Over that way."

Unfortunately, due to the chaotic situation happening around them, the four friends managed to get find themselves on one of the main roads in the colony, just as an explosion tore open a large hole in the center of the roadway from inside the interior wall, black smoke pouring from the jagged opening. The scene manage to capture everyone's attention, thus causing them to pause momentarily.

From the flames and smoke, leaped two grey colored Mobile Suits: the GAT-X105 Strike and the GAT-X303 Aegis. Prompting a number of civilians to gasp and shy away from the Mobile Suits as they did with the GINNs.

"Look out!" Cried a civilian, causing people to label the Mobile Suits as belonging to ZAFT. "There's more of them!"

Athrun landed the Aegis next to Miguel's GINN, which turned it head and gazed at the Mobile Suit with its monoeye.

"Well Athrun, nice to see you..." Miguel stated cheerfully as he greeted his fellow soldier, only to be interrupted by Athrun before he could continue.

"Rusty failed!" Athrun voice called over the comms.

"What?" Miguel asked, clearly confused by his friends' words. "What do you mean?"

"The last machine was boarded by an Earth Alliance officer." Athrun clarified, as he worked to get the Aegis's OS to acceptable standards, while sneaking glances up at the image of the Strike. The last prototype seemed to just standing there, making no attempts to move from where it landed. While he watched the Strike for a few seconds he couldn't help but ask himself two questions: '_I wonder what that pilot is doing?'_ thought the rational part of his brain, while his more irrational part whispered another: '_Was that Kira?' _

While Miguel was getting the details from Athrun, Kira busy using the momentary pause to hit a few switches on the monitor to bring up the Strike's Operating System, hoping to find out what the suit could do. It only took one look at the layout, before he looked at Ramius like she was an idiot. "You people actually designed this Suits' OS this poorly?" he nearly yelled, raw anger in his voice. "How do you expect to operate a Mobile Suit as complicated as this with this kind of OS?"

"It couldn't be helped! The OS was never completed!" Murrue explains.

Grunting something about big-head scientists playing with a butchered OS's from GINNs under his breath, Kira quickly starts working on calibrating and fixing the Strikes' incomplete OS. A task that proved to be fairly easy to accomplish, mainly thanks to his skills and training(though his two passengers could only cast him weary looks of disbelief when they heard him mutter a few choice words about how whoever designed the OS needed to be slapped upside the head for careless mistakes). His nimble fingers danced effortlessly across the Operating Keyboard as he works, making sure to adjust a number of settings to allow for better functionality and higher efficiency.

"What do you think you are doing?" Ramius**(I'm just going to keep addressing her as that until after she introduces herself) **yelled from behind the pilots' seat where she sat squished together with Cagalli.

"The OS you have is pathetic." Kira explained as he continued to work. "I'm fixing it so it will move properly and actually give us a chance of surviving this." After a moment he added, while pointing a finger at Ramius, "Plus those two probably think that you are the one piloting this machine and with the way the OS was before they would assume that even if a Natural attempted to pilot any of these machines the best they could do would be make it stumble around like a drunk."

"So?" asks Cagalli.

"So, if I can get the OS to the point where it can operate effectively, and by that I mean where it can move in the proper manner, I'll be able to get us out of this situation, hopefully." Kira explains, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. '_Even though I only have been trained in the basics of Mobile Suit operating.' _Kira added in his mind. '_Though I know for a fact that it won't take me long to fix this, not after all the work I've done with field experience.'_

But the looks on both of their faces said otherwise. Kira just shook his head, before turning his focused back to the monitor and continued to reprogram the OS.

Ramius stared at the boy in front of her as he worked, as she watched him work she couldn't help a think, '_This boy. Is he a...' _While Cagalli, on the other hand, was having a different sort of thought run through her head as well. '_He's like me.'_

Less than a minute later, Kira was about half way done on the Strike's OS, when several small screens popped up over the main monitor. Most of the images displayed were details that the newly reconfigured scanners had picked up, like a picture of the GINN and the Aegis, their heavily damaged surroundings, and a group of four teenagers, who were running away from the three mobile suits, whom Kira immediately recognized.

"Sai! Tolle! Kuzzey!" Kira called happily, as he watched his friends fleeing from the area. Sadly that joy was short lived as Miguel raised his Heavy Assault Machine Gun before firing a burst of bullets from it, none of which came close to hitting the Strike. However,they did hit the ground a few feet to left of where the Strike was kneeling, throwing up of a small cloud of dust. Using the moment, Miguel quickly holsters his Assault Gun on the back of his GINN's armor skirt, before drawing the Heavy Sword to take its place holding it out in front of the Aegis, as he shifts the monoeye to side to look over its shoulder at the the stolen machine.

"Then I'll capture that machine," Miguel states. "Take that one and head back. I'll handle things here." Then he shifts his GINN's monoeye to face the Strike, before it starts to advance towards the kneeling prototype. Athrun stands there try before opening his mouth as if to speak, but shuts almost immediately afterwards, a wistful look on his face.

'_Kira? Could it have been him?' _Athrun asks himself, '_No, it couldn't have been him. Could it?'_

Shaking his head, Athrun removes himself from his thoughts as he before pulling his Operating Keyboard down and starts to look over the Aegis's OS, while doing some tweaking here and there.

While that is happening Miguel advances on the Strike, which clumsily rose to its feet and attempts to move away in slow, lumbering steps. While inside, the two female passengers cast worried glances at the third passenger, who abandons his work in favor of gripping the controls, readying to dodge the incoming attack.

Miguel raises the Heavy Sword and slashes at a prototype, only to miss as the Mobile Suit does a shaky side step to the right, before it propels itself into the air with its thrusters, before landing in a clumsy fashion a good distance from Miguel.

Unfortunately, with the OS still incomplete, the Strike landed in a clumsy manner. The landing inturn also causes Cagalli to be jerked forward with a startled cry, before she crashes into the top of Kira's chest as he turned to face her. Pushing herself up, Cagalli quickly finds her face only inches away from Kira's.

Recoiling backwards, Cagalli blurts out a quick 'Sorry!', before trying to wedge herself deep into the back of the Strikes' cockpit, a large blush lighting up her cheeks. Luckily, Kira ignores the incident and instead watches as Miguel's GINN comes charging straight at them, holding its Heavy Sword with both hands before jumping in the air an attempt to do a downward slash from above. Cagalli and Ramius let out cries of fear as the GINN came down swinging.

Recalling the designs for the Strike, Kira hits the large gold colored button on the console, causing the words "PHASE SHIFT" appearing above the button in large red letters. The moment following after the activation of the Phase Shift Armor causes the Strike's dull grey paint scheme to shift to a bright red, blue, and white mixture. Then Kira sluggishly raises the Strike's arms into a cross block position above its head, catching the GINNs attack and stopping it. The sword does nothing as it clashes with the arms, other than causing sparks to jump from the contact. Cagalli and Athrun's eyes to widen in surprise at the result, while Ramius and Kira looked at the scene in a calm like manner.

"What the hell?" Miguel cursed, wondering how he his sword was unable to cut through the Strike's armor after it changed color.

"Good," Kira mumbled under his breath. "At least you didn't mess up with the Phase Shift Armor when you added it."

Cagalli managed to hear his whispered comment, while the older woman, Ramius, attention was more interested in the scene before her, didn't.

Using Miguel's lapse in concentration, Kira tries to land a sluggish knee to the GINNs' torso, only for Miguel to use his booster to propel himself away from Strike. Thus allowing Kira to lower the arms from the guard position.

"What's going on? What the hell is with that Mobile Suits' armor?" Miguel asks, confusion written clearly on his face. Shortly after, Athrun's face pops up on one his communication screens.

"It's called Phase Shift Armor." Athrun explains once his friends' GINN lands on the ground. "It makes both physical and ballistic weapons virtually useless against the armor as long as it's active."

Miguel watched as Athrun's Mobile Suit dull grey armor turned a Crimson Red as the Phase Shift Armor activated. Not even a second later did a pair of missiles come flying through the air towards the Aegis, whose response was to opened fire it with its head mounted CIWS, easily destroying both missiles. The Aegis redirects' its CIWS at the source of the attack, a single surviving Missile, and reduces it to a pile of shredded rubble.

"You get out of here!" Miguel commands Athrun, not wanting to risk the Aegis getting damaged. "I can handle things here, and that suits more valuable intact!"

Athrun gazes at the image of the Strike on his monitor. His mind dragging up the image of Kira as a boy on the screen before he looks away, an aggravated expression on his face. The Aegis's booster come to life as it takes off, heading away from them. The trio in the Strike watch it go, before the sound of a beeping warns them of the charging GINN that's barreling towards them.

"Watch out!" cries Cagalli and Ramius.

Kira responds by firing the CIWS, but all the shots miss the GINN completely. A look of shock appears on his face, before he eyes narrow.

"The targeting calibrations are off, so this Mobile Suit isn't even..."

Miguel uses the chance to get in close. "You won't be able to win with just superior armor," he yells as slashes at the Strike, who barely dodges the blow. Spinning around using his booster, Miguel lashes out with another slash, one that connects in a slashing motion across the Strike's chest. The impact causes it to stagger backwards and before Kira can recovery, Miguel combos with a downward slash that connects with the Strike's shoulder. The hit sends the Strike crashing back into a building behind it, causing Cagalli and Ramius to grunt in pain from being jerked around so much.

Down below them, a number of civilians are running away from the battle, among them are Kira's group of friends. Kira was quick to learn of that fact when his left view-screen picked up on them, though he could only see part of the screen due to Cagalli's body blocking half of it.

"A natural piloting a Mobile Suit?" Miguel exclaims, his voice carrying a cocky tone, "Don't make me laugh!" He advances on the Strike as it gets to its feet, his sword posed to strike, who backs away from the advancing GINN.

Just before the GINN lunges, Kira looks back at the image of his friends again and realizes how close they are. '_No, I won't let you hurt them!'_ Kira thought desperately before he gripped the controls firmly, and ducks the Strike under the GINNS lung, and ram its shoulder into the enemy Mobile Suit, sending careening backwards with Miguel yelling out in surprise as his GINN comes crashing down a good distance away from the Strike.

Kira sighs in relief that the people he had come to call his friends were safe, before grabbing the keyboard again, and renewing his work on the OS.

By the time Miguel has gotten his GINN back to his feet, Kira has nearly finished reprogramming the Strike's OS. After several more strokes on the keyboard, he deemed the the OS to be usable for the time before returning it back to it storage spot and gripped the controls. "It's time I dealt with this pain," growled Kira as the GINN charged towards them with its sword raised.

"Why you...!" Miguel says through his clenched teeth.

Squeezing the controls, Kira activated the CIWS and fires. The volley of shots scored direct hits to the GINNS chest causing it to slow and stumble, before it caught itself and came to a complete stop.

"What?" Miguel yells in confusion, though he recovers quickly before he boost forward and slashes at the Strike. It dodges the strike easily before countering with a punch to his GINN's head that sending the entire Mobile Suit crashing into a nearby building as Miguel yells inside the cockpit.

While below, Kira's friends watch the battle before with looks of shocked awe.

"Take the calibrations and reset the Zero Moment Point and CPG," Kira mutters to himself as he continues work on the Strike's OS. "Then connect the Control Module directly to the Molecular Ion Pump and reconstruct the neural linkage network!" Then recalling some other touches adds, "Renew meta-active field, reactivate feed forward controls, convey function! Adjust Coriolis deviation, connect to motion routines!System online, initiate bootstrap!"

Miguel climbs back to his for the second time, "What's with this guy? He's suddenly moving better!" he said as he cast wary looks at the Strike before him. Mounting his sword on the back of the Armor Skirt, he draws the Machine Gun he had stored earlier. Firing a quick burst of rounds, he scores a hit to the Strike. Though it is unharmed by the shots, the shockwaves from the impacts cause the people inside to grunt in pain.

Not wanting to get hit again, Kira boosts the Strike into the air to escape from the next volley and to draw the GINNs fire away from his friends. Miguel seeing the Strike take off, activates his booster and gives chase. fire at the airborne prototype as it did.

As he continues to dodge the GINNs Machine Gun fire, Kira calls up the list of the Strikes' OFFENSIVE weapons.

"Oh, come on! Armor Schneider that's it?" Kira groans to himself.

'_This isn't good, I know for a fact that if I when I disable it the pilot will activate the self-destruct the moment I do.' _Kira thought in his head as he weaved round building as the GINN continued to fire at him. '_I need some weapon to with some reach to that gives me so reach.'_ His eyes widened when he got an idea. '_The Heavy Sword that the GINN has, I need to get that!'_

"Hold on you two." Kira warns his two passengers. "I'm going to try something." Thou Cagalli is the only to hear him, since the older woman, Ramius, seemed to have passed out at some point.

Quickly, he draws one of the knifes with the Strike's left hand and charges the GINN, raising its Machine Gun at them. Just as Miguel squeezes the trigger, Kira activates the boosters, propelling the Strike over the shots and over the top of the GINN, twisting as it did.

"What is he trying to do?" Miguel asks, as he tries to swing his GINN around to the right.. But he's too slow, and the Strike lands only a few yards behind him, before boosting straight at his GINNs' unprotected back.

Kira uses his free hand to push the hand holding the Machine Gun to the side before wrapping the arm underneath it. He then reaches around with the left hand and rams the knife into the left side of the GINNs' neck, cutting the mainline to the monoeye. With no power running to it the eye dims before disappearing. Leaving the knife, Kira rips both the Heavy Sword and its sheath from the GINN's side before drawing it as he backs away, before using it to server the arm holding the Machine Gun from the rest of the body.

"The Hydro's not responding," Miguel mutters, "The Multi-Drive is down as well." Freeing himself from the belt straps, he pulls a lever on the left of his to arm the self-destruct. A timer pops and begins to count down. Popping the cockpit hatch open, Miguel emerges and activates his Thruster pack before boosting away. Turning his head slightly, he watches for the explosion, but nothing happens. The GINN just stands there, looking like it could topple any second.

'_What the hell?'_ gasps Miguel in his mind, '_I know I primed the self-destruct!' _Looking again, he notices the Strike had dropped the sword in order to draw another knife and ram it into the front of the GINNs chest from bend, right where the self-destruct controls would be. "Shit!" Miguel swore. "Commander Le Creuset's is going to kill me for letting that GINN fall into a hands of the Naturals'." Continuing to fly away, he makes a vow to pay that Natural back for shaming him.

While Miguel rant, Kira is in the middle of being squeezed to death by Cagalli inside the Strike's cockpit. "That was incredible!" Exclaimed the young girl, "I believe that you were able to take down that GINN!" The girls' excitement died down a bit as she turned to look at him, her orange eyes looking at him with barely contained curiosity. "Though I have to ask. How did you know where the Self-Destruct device was?"

"I've studied Mobile Suit designs for that kind of suit before," Kira answers, trying to be as vague as possible. "Umm, could you please let go of me?" Trying ,and failing, to keep a blush from spreading across his face.

Cagalli raises an eyebrow and looks down, only to find herself straddling Kira. Once again finding herself in compromising position with a boy, Cagalli jumps away and scrambles back to her original seat to hide her.

Kira can only chuckle at the girls' sudden shyness, which earns him a glare from said girl and a 'Watch it, Mister' remark causing to laugh even more. Suddenly, the ground shakes as a large hole opens up not too far from them directly in the center of the Morgenroete facility. From the hole, another Mobile Suit emerges, this time it was a dark black with purple highlights.

This new machine was similar to the Strike, yet it was different. Its' head was similar to the Strikes' except it had a large V like antenna with a diamond protrusion in the center instead of ones shaped like a curved bull, it also had additional pair of extensions protruding from the side. Its' chest was more streamline that the Strike's. Its shoulders' armor ended in points and was curved at an angle, while the arms were thinner and had two claw like extensions on the back of the forearms in its left hand it carried a large curved shield while in the other it carried a double barrel rifle, with another one stored on the back of its armor skirt. The lower body, was more streamlined as well, with armor slanting to cover the knee and shin joints of the suit and the arnor skirt reaching lower on the sides, while it was shorter on the front. On its back was the large pair of sleek looking wings that were folded together with two small containers mounted below them.

Kira's eyes widened considerably as he recognized the Mobile Suit. "They stole the designs to the Yuro, as well!" Kira exclaims, as he unconsciously grip the controls tighter enough for his knuckles to turn white. A few seconds later, a communications line opened on his screen with a face Kira knew immediately.

"Masaru!" growled Kira, anger boiling in his tone. "So you are here working for ZAFT now, huh?" Cagalli just sat back and watched Kira's reaction to the appearance of this Masaru guy, whose mouth grew into a twisted smirk giving him a crazed look, before he started to chuckle but it soon grew to a full blown, demented laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHA! What am I doing here? What do you think genius?" Masaru saided as his laughter died down to soft chuckle. "I'm here with ZAFT to take the prototypes the Alliance and Morgenroete have so kindly built and to get revenge on you, Kira Yamato. It was your fault. You got everything, while I was cast out and mocked!" Masaru screamed. "Now I am the one who holds the power and you can do nothing to stop me from killing you from destroying Terminal," Masaru says mockingly as raising the rifle in the Yoru's right hand, then continues. "But you won't be around to see it destruction. Bye Bye, Kira Yamato!"

At this point, Masaru squeezes the trigger, but nothing happens. Masaru squeezes the trigger again and again, growing increasingly frustrated at the weapons' malfunction.

"What going on?" Masaru yells. "It worked just fine earlier." The blare of an alarm brings Masaru out of his rant as the Strike comes hurtling at him wielding it last knife in one hand and the newly acquired Heavy Sword in the other.

"What?" exclaims Masaru, too shocked to react in time as the Strike slams its last knife in the left shoulder joint of the Yoru, a spot that wasn't protected by the Phase Shift. "He should be out of power by now!"

"Never underestimate an Agent, Masaru." Kira remarks as he takes several deep breaths to calm done before smirking. "We pull off plenty of things that a normal person can't!"

Masaru cursed as he tried to get the Yoru to move, but it was slow since that hit had caused some major damage to the main hydraulics system.

"This isn't over, Yamato!" Masaru screamed out across the comms. "I'll be back and next time you won't be so lucky. That's a promise." With that, the Yoru used it's boosters to send it up into the air changing into it's fighter mode and flying away, before disappearing into the Central Axis of the colony.

Only then did Kira slump back into the pilot's seat, releasing a long sigh as he did. "You're welcome to try Masaru." Kira whispered under his slightly heavy breaths. "But I will be waiting when you do. It's the least I can do after everything you've done."

His almost silent remark did not go as unnoticed as he thought it had, for Cagalli caught the tail end of his comment.

The tomboyish princess of Orb had heard the entire comment and her curiosity had been peaked by the emotions and words that thrown around as the two fought.

'_There is definitely some history between them,' _thought Cagalli as several question came to her mind. Who was that Masaru boy? How did Kira know him? How was Kira responsible for Masaru being kicked out? Many more followed those and Cagalli could no more answer them, until she knew more information. So she turn to demand answers from the source, but before she could even voice her demand the ground beneath the Strike shock and cracked as a large hole opened up and swallowed the nearly powerless Strike within in shadowy depths.

* * *

**Interior of Heliopolis(Hallway)**

Deep inside the interior of the colony, amongst countless numbers of debris and the dead bodies of Alliance Personnel, whose wounds continued to leak blood despite the lifeless expressions of their faces creating floating droplets of the precious crimson liquid, was a single woman surrounded by the dead bodies of three larger male officers. It was obvious that they had used their bodies to shield the woman from the onrush of debris from the explosion that had killed the them, leaving the woman remarkably unhurt and on the verge of regaining consciousness after on the bodies caused her to drift into a nearby wall.

Unfortunately, the first thing Ensign Natarle Badgiruel saw when she awoke, was the forms of the three men that had protected her from the debris floating lifelessly in front of her, amongst the countless other bloody and dirty bodies of the dead. The sight caused the Ensign a moment of discomfort, but it was pushed aside once her feet touch the ground and a thought comes to the forefront of her mind causing her expression to turn to that of worry.

"The Archangel… The ship, where is it?"

With that she kicked off the ground, heading in the opposite direction that corpses drifted in. Never once did she give a second thought about her dead saviors, her focus was solely on finding the only thing that matter: the Archangel.

* * *

**Outside Heliopolis**

Outside the colony, the ensuing battle between the colonies defenses and the Zaft forces slowed in its' intensity, since most of the colonies defenders had been shot down by then, including the outdated Marseille-III Class.

The outdate vessel had just taken a hit to the propulsion system,thus leaving the ship unable to steer itself as it's forward momentum carried in towards Heliopolis.

"I can't steer it!" screamed the Marseille's pilot, as the he frantically tries to prevent their inevitable fate, but reality is not kind. Just before impact the captain lets loss a fearful cry as the ship crashes into the exterior of the colony, crushing the front of the ship upwards, before being consumed in a fiery explosion. Just as the GINN responsible for the Marseille's destruction turns to leave, a orange Moebius Zero shoots down on it from above intercepting it.

"Can't we do something about this difference in battle strength?" asks the Zero's pilot, Lt. Mu La Flaga, as he engages the enemy Mobile Suit in combat. While dodging the shots of the GINN's Machine Gun, Mu deploys his Zero's Gunbarrels. The GINN soon finds its weapon destroyed by well placed shot from one of the Gunbarrels. The GINN's pilot, Olar, attempts to draw it's Heavy Sword and charge the Moebius Zero. Only Mu lands another impossible hit with the Gunbarrels to the GINN's right shoulder, blowing the entire arm completely off, destroying the melee weapon in the process. Olor quickly sends the damaged machine in a fast retreat, putting as much distance between it and the Zero as possible as it retreats.

A good distance away from the battle, sits a ZAFT Nazca-Class Destroyer codenamed _Vessalius_, aboard the destroyer, sat Commander Rau Le Creuset and Captain Fredrik Ades as they continued watching the battle until a Communications Officer relayed a message to them.

"Olor's Suit has been heavily damaged," he informed the two men, "he's making an emergency return!"

"Firefighting unit, to B deck!" He then commands over over another channel.

"Olor's been hit?!" Ades asks with an incredulous tone, "in a battle like this?"

"There appears to be a rather annoying flying buzzing around." Le Creuset interjects Ades.

"Huh?" Ades asks, turning towards Le Creuset in confusion for a moment before another message causes him to turn back around in alert.

"Laser beacon from Miguel Aiman received!" The Communication Officer yells out, "It's an emergency!"

"If that one machine is powerful enough to cause Miguel to lose his unit…" Le Creuset trails. He rises from the chair and prepares to leave the bridge, "then it's all the more reason why we cannot ignore this last one." He states.

* * *

**Inside Heliopolis Interior(Secret Earth Alliance Hangar)**

The once noisy secret hangar of the EA's new Assault Carrier was now deadly quiet as the attack had torn it's way through the place killing all in its' way, but remarkably for all of power the explosion had, it not fulfilled it's purpose: the destruction of the EA vessel.

In fact, the explosions had done little to harm the ship at all, sure there some small scorch marks here and there, but that was it, the attack had done little to physical damage the ship enough to destroy it.

The Command Center on the other hand was charred black and ruined by the intensity of the flames. Uniforms that were once pristine and proper floated in the empty space, all were heavily discolored by ash, with patches burned off in various places. This was the sight Natarle came upon as she enter the room.

"Hello, is anyone in here?" called the Ensign as she continued her search for survivors.

A battered, and blacken captain's hat floated by her, before she snatched it and held it close to her face, inspecting it. Tears come rushing to the corners of her eyes as she grips the hat tightly.

"This can't be…" Said the woman, choking a little, as she cries. "there has to be more survivors."

Sudden the sound of banging sound echos across the room, before one of the doors to the command center is kicked open revealing Alliance Officer Arnold Neumann holding a flashlight in his hand a he shines at her.

"Good to see that you're alive," he sighs in relief. "Ensign Badgiruel."

* * *

**Back Outside Heliopolis**

Three flares, two green and one red, are launched ordering all remaining ZAFT pilots to retreat back to the Gamow and Vessalius. This is quickly followed as the remaining GINNs retreat while Mu La Flaga watches them keen interest.

"They're retreating?" He exclaims, "but there's still something…" He narrows his eyes, "What is it?" Quickly engaging his Zero's thrusters, sending the Mobile Armor off in another direction.

Meanwhile, Le Creuset is closing in on him in his ZGMF-515 CGUE.

"Do you sense me, the way that I sense you?" He wonders out loud, "Some unlucky twist of fate, don't you think, **Mu la Flaga**?" The last part is laced with contempt and anger, as the two engage in another round of fighting.

* * *

**Back inside the Colony with the Strike…**

The figure of the Strike could be seen resting at the bottom of a hanger, looking lifeless as it sat there.

Inside the cockpit, Kira was beginning to stir from him previous unconscious state that was the result of the Strike falling down a hole and hitting the ground hard. The first thing he found when he woke was Cagalli's face was once again only inches from his own and the she was straddling him in a very compromising way. How she got there was he something he would rather not know.

After several attempts of moving the girl, due to the firm grip she had on him, he decided that waking her would be the best course of action.

Of course, that was easier said than done, as the girl was a heavy sleeper and didn't wake easily. And once she did she "awarded" him by slapping him punching in the cheek, while calling him a pervert.

One humbling talk later, the girl was reduced to a blushing mess, as Kira laid out the facts that she had missed in moment of action over reaction. But that's unimportant, as the two quickly agreed to put it aside and focus on finding a way back to the surface.

"Well, we can't use the Strike's booster to get us up there," Kira said.

"And why is that?" Cagalli demanded.

"We don't have enough power to do that," Kira explained pointing at the Strike's Power gauge, which show that they had only about fifteen more minutes of available power.

After letting that sink in for a moment, he added. "If we try to boost our way out with our current energy level, we will only get halfway before the battery runs out of juice."

" You know what happens after that."

"We fall, right?" Asks Cagalli.

"Yes, we fall...," said Kira, nodding his head, before continuing. "We fall and then we die on impact, or you do if you're not strapped in securely."

When he receives a strange look from the blond, he elaborates further. "Right before we hit the ground, I triggered the booster to slow our descent, or else the impact would have killed us. If we ran out of power before we got to the surface we would fall back down and this time I wouldn't be able to slow the Strike before it hit the ground."

Cagalli's face morphed into one of terror at the thought of that happening, and quickly looked for another idea.

"What about recharging the battery?" She asked after a few minutes of thinking. "I mean we landed in another hangar in the colonies wall, so there must be something around here that we can use to recharge the battery."

"That's what I've been thinking," Kira says, as he opened the Strike's cockpit and let fresh air into the cockpit. "and it looks like that's our only option at this point," he added as he moved to climb down to the hangar floor. Cagalli following right behind him.

* * *

**Back Outside with Mu and Rau**

Rau is hiding behind some cover as he has spotted the enemy Mobile Armour slowly making its way inside Heliopolis. Mu can sense that there is some kind of familiar presence very close to him and instantly notices it when Rau's CGUE dives out of its hiding place and fires a few shots at his Mobile Armour. Mu quickly boosts forward to dodge the oncoming shots.

"Bastard!" Mu yells, "is that you, Rau Le Creuset?!"

He quickly deploys his Gunbarrels to attempt an assault on the CGUE. However, Rau easily dodges the attacks, continuing to fire on the inferior Mobile Armour.

"You're always getting in my way, Mu La Flaga!" Rau responds, "though we probably share the same opinion!"

He ceases his fire at the Mobile Armour and quickly turns and flies into the entrance into Heliopolis. Mu lets out a moan of frustration as he reconnects his Gunbarrels.

"He's gone into Heliopolis!"

Wasting no time, he ignites his boosters and gives chase.

* * *

**Back with Natarle…**

"The only survivors are the few of us aboard the ship during the explosion." Neumann informs Natarle as she sets foot on the Archangel's bridge, "but the few of us are factory workers" he adds at the last second.

"What's the present situation?" Natarle queries, "What happened to the ZAFT Vessels?"

"I have no idea." Neumann responds, "We have our hands full just confirming things around us." He explains.

Natarle reaches the front console on the bridge and activates the Ship's primary power, causing the once dim bridge to illuminate with life. A screen detailing the Archangel's damage appears. Luckily, the majority of systems register as green while a minority are red.

"This Archangel is quite the ship," Natarle comment, "it'll take more than this to sink it."

"However, the harbour exit is blocked by a heap of rubble," Neumann informs Natarle, "we're completely trapped."

Natarle activates the Radio System in the hopes of establishing some kind of contact with others. Unfortunately, a static-like screen still appears. Natarle comes to a startling realization as she connects the dots in her head.

"If the airwaves are still jammed , but…" She begins to say, "Then this was a diversion?"

"Then ZAFT's true target was Morgenroete?!" Nuemann gives a little gasp in response.

"Damn!" Natarle cries with desperation, "what's the situation over there?!"

"What happened to the G-Weapons?" She wonders, "This doesn't tell me a thing!" She holds her head down in an almost defeated like fashion.

Suddenly a message appears on the screen with a beep, drawing their attention to the message.

_All is not lost, prepare the ship for launch. _

Was the all the that the message said before a second message appeared.

_The Strike is ready and the Rhino will soon accompany it. _

"What the?" Natarle asks as she stares at the screen. "Who in the world sent that?"

Neumann types away at one of the consoles trying to trace the message, but soon gives up and looks at her with apologetic expression. "Sorry, ma'am. I can't trace the signal, it's gone now."

* * *

**Back With Kira and Cagalli**

"Anything over there, Cagalli?" Kira calls over to the blond once he finishes searching his side of the hanger.

"I think so, but it's hard to tell." She called back from the other side of the hangar.

Kira quickly makes his way over to where he heard Cagalli's voice come from, hopping over various pieces of machinery that lay scattered across the floor until he came across the girl trying to move some large cover to reveal whatever lay beneath.

"Here, let me help." he says as he grabs onto the sheet and helps to remove revealing a the frame of a Mobile Armor beneath, and resting next to it what looked like a miniaturized recharge station.

"Cagalli," said Kira as he examined the two, before turning to look at the aforementioned girl. "I think you just found our ticket out of here."

"What about the Mobile Armor?" she asks, climbing up the side until she reached it's open cockpit. "I mean it could come in handy and I have some training in piloting them."

Not even giving him a chance to reply, Cagalli climbed down inside and began examining the interior, after a minute or so she head poke out, "I've never seen a model like this one before," she admitted. "But I think I can manage, and it's energy gauge says that it's full."

Kira heavied a small sigh before he spoke, "There's a reason you never seen a model like this." This caught the girls attention. "What reason is there?" She asks.

"This Mobile Armor is a prototype, one created for Terminal."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I'm the one who designed it?" Kira admits as he carries on the cables to the Strike to begin recharging its battery.

"WHAT!?"

* * *

**Well that was interesting, wasn't it? I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Also I would like to take this time to inform all my readers that while I have no plans on quitting this story I have become very busy and I not sure when I will be able to have the next chapter ready. I've got another Gundam SEED/Destiny story that I working with a HubrisP, not to mention work and college, so don't expect quick updates or updates every month. Time is something I don't have much of at the moment. So until next time. See ya **

**MS Notes**

Serial Number: ORB-X00

Codename: Yoru

Manufacturer: Morgenroete

Unit type: Prototype High Performance Transformable Mobile Suit

Powerplant: 2x Ultracompact Energy Battery(main suit) 1 additional battery for the twin Burst Rifles.

Height: 17.9 m

Weight: Unknown

Armor Materials: unknown

Alternate Mode: Space/Air MA fighter

Special Equipment: Phase Shift Armor; transformable frame; sensors, range unknown.

Fixed weapons: 2x 'Igelstellungs' 75mm CIWS Anti-Air; 2x "Greiff" dual-end beam lance(stored in the side waist armor); 2x beam sabers(stored in shield); 2x 'Gladius' Beam Wing-Blades(MA mode only); 2x Hellfire micro-missile D-Pods(mounted behind the Yoru's wings); 2x 65mm Rapid fire submachine beam rifles(mountable on the side of the waist when not in use); 1x shield

Colors: Black with purple highlights.

Pilot: Masaru Ultor

Info: The Yoru was design to be a powerful MS and MA Capable of fighting in both space and on earth. It was the original MS built from the only complete designs that Earth Alliance stole from a certain group. The Yoru is much more advanced than any of the other prototypes, since the engineers and technicians that build it to the original specification, but they had to reduce the capabilities since the overall performance was more than any of their pilots could ever hope to withstand. Those same simplified designs were later used to create the Duel and from there, later paved the way for the rest of the G-Series prototypes to be built. It was the first to be completed and was moved to another part of the underground facility while the rest were being built. When the time came for the machines to be transported to Earth; the Yoru was to be sent to a major research facility where a team of scientists would dissect the machine and look for ways to reverse engineer the technology to increase the power of their Mobile Suits. That was the plan, but when the time came for the Yoru to be moved to the Archangel, it was stolen by Masaru Ultor after he single -handedly killed all of the technicians and guards there.

Author's Note: I created the Yoru based off of the Wing Gundam from Gundam Wing, since I wanted a solid design that would created a very powerful weapon in the hands of Masaru(an OC that belongs to HubrisP, who works with me as my co-author for my other story: Gundam SEED: Conflicted Hearts). The Yoru will be one of the more powerful prototype units in this story.


End file.
